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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Making Time

This morning I woke up bright and early. I have been in the fortunate position of letting the sun be my alarm clock until I started pet sitting recently. A doggies gotta do what a doggies gotta do, and so my day needs to start earlier. But today I got up even earlier as I got to go running with two old school friends I haven't seen in years who have proper jobs and family responsibilities.

At least one of us still looks 17

I talked about how many of us are fighting fires and focus on life's responsibilities. Cicero (in Braveheart) says it best, 'Some of the time I do what I want to do, the rest of the time I do what I have to'. Even when you do that, you can't operate at your best if you don't have a buffer of energy to call on. The only way you build that up is by making time. Curt and Dave make time for a run (and to see each other) once a week before work. You can't be 'on' 100% of the time if you don't find these little spaces. The regularity also makes it easier to keep in touch when so many of us are useless communicators.

The other advantage of a running buddy is that it gives you an edge of accountability. You can't just roll over in bed. Morning Trev is definitely less of an exercise enthusiast than Evening Trev. I don't think I am unique. If someone is waiting for you, particularly if that someone is good at banter, then you best get yourself up.

I had a couple of running buddies at university that made a huge difference. Normally I ended up being fitter during exams, because there weren't those bothersome lectures and tutorials to attend, and because it was the only way to clear my head. One of those running buddies was about the same level as me, but whoever was fitter would normally win. That was a good incentive, since if you were sneaky and got in a few extra runs you could throw some abuse in the others general direction. The other running buddy was so far ahead of me, he used to float along occasionally jumping up to touch a tree branch while I plodded behind him. I console myself that he has now become a mountain man of sorts who does all sorts of trail ultra-marathons.

For most problems, a little exercise is a good start on a solution. Even if you have Hakuna Matata, it is part of the good life.

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Swart Donkey

Swart means Black (my surname) in Afrikaans. I am proud of my African roots but am a global citizen who believes that we should look to define ourselves collectively by the great things we can achieve. I believe in freedom of people and ideas and that we are moving towards a more friendly, happy world. Like a Donkey, I can be noisy, stubborn and ignorant - but like a Donkey I am willing to put effort in to change. The focus of this blog is happiness and learning - so basically, it is a blog on everything.